


Heartbeat

by steampunkcircus



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: BriChat, F/M, I'm not a doctor, cuddling for warmth, mlsecretsanta2k18, probably inaccurate description of hypothermia
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-19
Updated: 2018-12-19
Packaged: 2019-09-23 02:41:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17071958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/steampunkcircus/pseuds/steampunkcircus
Summary: While fighting an akuma, Ladybug and Chat Noir end up in the woods with no way home. Her miraculous times out, his doesn’t. It's winter and the temperature is falling fast. Tropes. Fluff. Felix’s existential angst.





	Heartbeat

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kinyth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kinyth/gifts).



> Merry Christmas, [Kinyth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kinyth/pseuds/Kinyth)/[kinythcosplay](https://kinythcosplay.tumblr.com/)! I was so excited to write the PV kids, especially some brichat. I hope you enjoy and have a great holiday season!

It started as all of Felix's important life events started. With screams of terror.

"This is your fault, you know," Felix hissed at Plagg as they sought out a hidden corner for Felix to transform.

"How is this akuma my fault? Is he anti-camembert? Does he have a moral objection to napping in the sun? Did a black cat cross his path?"

"Not the akuma. The fact that I'm happier now, listening to the terrified screams of my fellow Parisians than I was all day. Shrieks of horror will probably cheer me up for the rest of my life." He ducked into a recessed doorway and glanced both ways down the alley, checking for anyone who could see him.

"How is that my fault? It's not the terrified screaming, or even the akuma you're excited about. You're excited to see Ladybug."

Felix sighed. Plagg was right. It was the prospect of seeing Ladybug that had turned his day around. "Claws out," he said, brushing a finger over the cat face on his ring.

"Mewtiful evening, My Lady," Chat said, landing on the roof an apartment complex across from the main area of akuma-related destruction.

"It's cold and snowing and dark, Chat," Ladybug said, hunching her shoulders against the wind. Chat reached out to brush a pigtail away from her face. "And I had to leave my warm room for this."

"Well, what are we dealing with? Maybe it'll be quick and you can get out of the cold soon enough."

"I have no idea what he's doing," Ladybug said, gesturing to the purple, glowing akuma running around with a staff, zapping people. "I think he turns people invisible, but I'm not sure. Maybe teleportation, but I don't know where they're teleported _to_."

"Either way, pretty simple strategy," Chat said. "Don't get hit, you distract him, I sneak up and break his staff, you purify the akuma, and we're on our way."

This plan had worked so many times that it sounded easy. It had also failed a significant number of times, so they shouldn't have been surprised when-

"Ladybug, watch out!"

"Lucky-"

For the rest of his life, Felix remembered everything as if it happened in slow motion. Seeing the akuma's beam heading for her. Her yo-yo rising into the air. Diving to knock her out of the way. He knew he wasn't going to make it, but he had hoped to spare her. He felt the beam hit. Worse, he felt the beam travel through him and into every point of contact between him and Ladybug.

"Charm!"

They landed in a heap, rolling a few feet, tangling in yo-yo string.

"Chat," Ladybug said, her tone sharp, "get off me."

Chat opened his eyes, rolling to the side. He didn't like what he saw.

"So that was a teleportation akuma," Chat said.

The city streets had been turned to snow banks. The buildings were replaced with trees. The temperature had dropped significantly, and it had already been much colder than normal for a snowy Paris night.

"Apparently."

Ladybug got up and started searching around in the snow.

"Are you expecting to find a portal home over there?" Chat asked. He joined her search anyway, kicking through the snow drifts.

"The Lucky Charm. I felt it happen, so it should be here with us."

They both spotted the one bright red thing in the snow a moment later at the top of the small hill they had rolled down.

"It's a compass," Ladybug said, holding it up for Chat to see.

"It's…" Chat looked up at the clear, starry sky. "It's not pointing north."

Ladybug rotated the compass in her hand, watching the needle continue to point in the same direction. "How do you know?"

"The stars." He rattled off the location of a few constellations he recognized. "I would guess we aren't too far from Paris, but that's not saying much. Mostly I can tell we're in the same hemisphere. But I do know that that way is north." He pointed to their left, more than ninety degrees from where the compass pointed.

"So, this isn't leading us north," Ladybug said. "It's leading us where we need to go. Home, I hope."

"What if you tried using Miraculous Cure now? Would it send us back?"

She shook her head. "I can't use it until the battle's over. Good thinking, though."

Without a word, they started following the needle.

"I know most people prefer a romantic stroll in the moonlight along a beach," Chat said after a moment of silent trudging through the snow, "but I've always been partial to the woods. What about you, My Lady?"

She groaned. "Must you turn this into a flirting opportunity?"

"Is it flirting to ask if you like the woods?"

"When you say it, yeah, it is."

"I can't help it," he said with a grin she knew he thought was charming. "You make me want to know everything about you. How can I not? You're wonderful. If asking innocent questions is flirting, then I guess I'm just a tomcat."

"I'll agree with the-"

They were cut off by a beep from her earrings.

"How close to the city do you think we are?"

If Chat hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have thought Ladybug was capable of looking worried.

"Probably more than four minutes away," Chat said. "Maybe we'll be lucky and find a house or gas station or something."

"And what?" she asked. "I hide in the bathroom while you get cookies? Do you really think we'll get somewhere before I time out?"

"I won't look," he said. "If you want, I'll walk in front of you. You can step in my footprints. I can block the wind?"

Oh. The wind. The wind was strong, and the temperature seemed to be dropping. It didn't bother Chat, but he knew that was because of the miraculous magic and his suit. If Ladybug detransformed out here…

"How are we going to get out of this one, Chat?"

He didn't have an answer, so he picked up the pace instead. They had been walking before the miraculous reminder. They started jogging, and at the second beep, running. Chat considered climbing to the trees, jumping along their path to speed up even more, but he knew Ladybug preferred running on the ground, and he wasn't going to leave her.

"Chat-" Ladybug was down to the rapidly-beeping less-than-a-minute warning.

"I know, I know."

He had to do something, fast. There was nothing ahead, nothing in sight. As the seconds ticked down, he tried to think of ways to keep her safe from the cold. He even considered detransforming with her to give her the sweater he had on over his shirt, but then there would be two of them dying of hypothermia soon enough.

"Chat!"

She stopped running, hands over her earlobes.

He did the only thing he could think of. He scooped her into his arms, princess style, guiding her head to his shoulder so he couldn't see her face.

Or, that's what he tried to do. With her last second of magic-enhanced strength, she flailed, shoving at his chest, and went tumbling out of his arms, landing in the snow and somersaulting backward into the frozen creek they had just crossed.

The creek that immediately soaked through her civilian clothes.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" He dove in and picked her up again, supporting her and dusting off snow and ice as best he could. "I should have warned you, but I only thought of it then."

"I was actually about to ask you for a piggyback ride," she said, her face seeking the warmth of the crook of his neck, arms pulled in tight to her sides. Her teeth were already chattering. "I didn't mean to fall, it was a reflex."

"What do I do?" he asked, holding her as close as he could.

"Keep walking," she managed to say through her shivering. "The Lucky Charm has never steered us wrong before."

Chat did as she asked, running as fast as he could with her in his arms (which was still pretty fast, but he was worried about the wind plus her wet clothes).

It was surprisingly easy not to try and look down and see who was in his arms. He had seen a flash of dark hair and pink clothes before she went down, and he was pretty sure she was wearing pants and long sleeves. That was more information than he ever expected to get. She didn't want him to know, so he would do his best not to know.

"How're you doing, My Lady?"

"Cold... painfully cold."

He winced, trying in vain to shield her as they ran.

A few minutes later, she spoke again, her voice noticeably weaker. "Chat?"

"Bugaboo?"

"If... If we don't... If I don't..."

"Don't what?" He had to slow down a little to hear her.

"My parents. My kwami can help you find-"

"No. No! You'll be fine, Ladybug. Fine. Do you hear me?"

"And... Sorry, but there's a boy-"

"Stop that!"

Perhaps because of the hysterical note in Chat's voice, Ladybug fell silent.

Too silent, he decided a minute later.

"Ladybug?" No answer. "Ladybug! Don't fall asleep!"

She whimpered. He shook her a little.

"I swear on my ring, Ladybug, if you don't answer me in the next two seconds-"

"I'm-" she cut off, moving a hand to press against his chest. "Please hurry."

The next few minutes stretched on for ages. He tried to keep her talking. He tried flirting to lift her spirits. He tried flirting to antagonize her. At one point, he was pretty sure he was just angrily yelling at her to, "-not fucking die on me, I absolutely won't forgive you, do you understand me? You're stronger than this, Ladybug, and I will _not_ carry your frozen corpse all the way to Paris like I would your living self!"

When he spotted the cabin, he thought he was imagining it. No lights were on, no cars in the gravel driveway, but there was a building with walls to keep out the wind.

"Lucky Charm was right, My Lady!" he said, running a little faster in his excitement. "You'll be fine once we're inside."

She didn't answer.

Chat considered pounding on the door to get anyone inside to let them in, but it was eight at night. Anyone who was going to be home would be home with at least a few lights on. He tried the door and found, by some luck that he attributed to the lady in his arms, that it was unlocked.

"Ladybug? I need you to answer me," Chat said, setting her down on the first horizontal surface he found. "How are you doing?"

"Chat?"

Her voice was worryingly weak. He stroked her hair, looking around the cabin to avoid looking at her face with his advanced night vision. "Yeah, LB, it's me. Can you tell me your kwami's name? I want to check on her, too."

"It hurts, but I'm so sleepy."

"Hey! Hey, no sleeping!" His eyes snapped to her face as he said this.

Bridgette Cheng.

Oh.

He managed to stop himself from blurting out, "Miss Cheng?" making a choking noise instead.

"You okay, Kitty?"

Her hand flopped onto his forearm. Had her hands always been that small?

"We need to warm you up," he said. There was a problem to solve. No time for feelings now. He looked around the room and spotted a fireplace, a basket of blankets, and a small stove. No phone or computer. He checked his baton. No signal. Why did it need a signal if it was made by magic?

"I have no idea what I'm doing," Chat said, scooping her into his arms again. He set them both down in front of the fireplace. Felix Agreste had never lit a fire in his life. But Felix Agreste had also read a lot of books. He struggled some and ended up ripping pages from a cookbook for tinder (dying inside at having to rip a book), but in the end, a fire was started.

"Hey, I said no sleeping!" Chat said, shaking Ladybug- Bridgette- again. "Ladybug's kwami? Can you help me out here any?"

"Hi, Chat Noir."

The tiny, high voice was somewhere on Bridgette's person. After a minute of searching, he found a sodden, shivering kwami with giant blue eyes.

"I feel like I'm moving too slowly," Chat said, pulling Bridgette- Ladybug- against his chest to try and share his body heat. "What can I do for her?"

"Strip her down, wrap both of you in a few blankets near the fire. Monitor her heart rate. When she's doing a little better, make some tea. Hot water, even."

Chat grabbed the blankets, piling them on the floor next to them. With his eyes averted most of the time, he managed to wrestle Bridgette's shirt and jeans off, his face bright red. This was _Ladybug_. Before today, undressing Ladybug had been in the "wildest dreams" category. But that was what he was doing, even if the situation was more "keep her alive and safe" than "Oh, Chat Noir, I love you too." The blushing got even worse when he remembered what Bridgette would probably think about Felix being the one undressing her.

Once undressed, he could feel how cold her skin was. He pulled her close and piled blanket after blanket on them. He tucked Ladybug's kwami into the folds of the blanket.

"What's your name?" he asked.

"Tikki." Her eyes closed. "I won't be able to transform her until I'm feeling better, I'm afraid."

"Who cares about the stupid akuma? I just need her to be okay."

"You're a good Chat Noir, Felix," Tikki said. Her breathing evened out, and he didn't really question how she knew who he was.

Chat settled one clawed hand on Bridgette’s wrist, feeling for her pulse. It was slow enough to make his own heart beat faster as if to make up for hers.

"Chat?" Bridgette whispered a few minutes later.

He pulled her closer. "You listening to me and staying awake now?"

"It hurts," she said. Her head rolled back to try and see him. "What happened?"

"You fell in a creek, and then it took me too long to find this place."

"Oh."

Her eyes closed again, but she rolled to her other side, pressing her freezing cold nose into his neck, her legs tangling with his. Were it not for the magic of his suit, her icy feet on his calves would have had him shoving her away. He pulled her arm around him and tucked the blankets tight again.

Chat tried to occupy his mind with fiddling with the communicator in his baton, but there didn't seem to be much that could be done about "No Signal". He tried going over his schedule for the next day in his head, but it was the same monotony of school, ballet, photoshoot, homework as always. He tried reciting poetry in his head, but eventually, he ran out of things he remembered.

So he looked down at the girl in his arms.

It was like looking at one of those optical illusion pictures where at first all you see is a vase, then suddenly you see two faces. He had seen his classmate, an annoying girl with a crush, a girl who didn't know what "no" meant, in this person for so long. Now, suddenly, he saw bits of Ladybug. Her forehead wrinkling while she slept. Ladybug's lips (he loved her lips). The strength that radiated off her, even in this weakened state. How could they be the same?

He stared for a while until his neck started to get sore in its odd position. He laid his head down and let his mind run. He was in no rush for her to wake up again.

He might have dozed off, because the next thing he knew, she was shifting in his arms. She detangled a hand from the blanket mass and pushed her hair from her face.

"I'm me," she said.

"You are."

"Do we know each other? Do you recognize me?"

He bit his lip. "No, Ladybug. I don't recognize you at all."

/*****/

Bridgette made Chat turn around while she got dressed, despite the fact that she had to realize he was the one to undress her. Her clothes were dry from sitting near the fire. When he was allowed to turn around again, she was covered in a few blankets and sitting as close to the fireplace as she could get.

"Back up a little," Chat suggested, reaching down to help her stand.

"No."

Chat rolled his eyes. Right, this was Ladybug, who never did anything she didn't want to, not Bridgette, who did everything Felix suggested. He didn't want her growing uncomfortable on the hardwood floor, so he pushed the couch until it was less than a meter from the fire. She gave him a grateful smile and crawled onto the cushions, curling into a ball.

"You're _tiny_ ," Chat blurted. He could feel himself blushing, so he turned and went to the kitchen area. By some stroke of luck (Ladybug luck, he was sure), he found everything he needed to make hot chocolate.

"I'm the same size when I'm transformed," she said, turning to rest her chin on the back of the couch. "You're sure we haven't met before?"

"Why do you ask?" he said, setting up the milk to heat.

"You're acting weirder than I thought a reveal would make you."

He scoffed. "I'm always acting weird around you, My Lady."

She wrinkled her nose and giggled. "I'm not sure how I feel about you calling me that when I'm detransformed."

"What would you like to be called?"

"My name. Bridgette."

Chat brought two mugs over to the couch.

"Put them down," Bridgette said, shifting the blankets around. "You're warm, so we're cuddling, Kitty."

He did as she asked. Happily so; she was bossing him around, and when he mostly saw the back of her head and a pile of blankets, his mind tipped more towards her being Ladybug. It also meant she was feeling better.

"I expected something along the lines of, 'you honor me, My Lady' or, 'never did this old alley cat think he'd find himself worthy of cuddles' or something," she said after a few sips of hot chocolate, curled in his arms.

"Don't be ridiculous. I'm not old, even for an alley cat."

She giggled again, then sighed. "I always dreamed of having a cabin like this. Somewhere to get away, no distractions. Just you and that special someone, giving each other all your attention. It's romantic." She elbowed him, and it felt weak. “Never figured I’d say that about somewhere I went with _you_ , of course.”

He wondered if Felix featured in her romantic cabin fantasies.

“Hey,” she said, shifting to look up at him. “You’re quiet. Are you okay? I didn’t even ask, I’m sorry.”

He kissed her forehead. “I guess you answered my question about whether you think the woods or the beach is more romantic.”

She studied his face. "Is it the reveal, or are you just freaked out because that was a close call?"

He closed his eyes and lowered his head to rest on her shoulder, letting out a shaky breath. "Tikki said to monitor your heart rate. It was slow. I died in the space between each beat. I _felt_ each beat, Bridgette. Not just through your skin, but in me. The first second I see you as you really are, and it's while your heart is pulling me apart." He gave a joyless laugh. "Though, we both expected that, I'm sure."

"Oh, Kitty," she said, running her hand through his hair.

"How's Tikki doing?" he asked, pulling away. Bridgette chased his warmth.

"Better, thank you," Tikki said. "And if you share your hot chocolate, I can probably transform again."

Felix held the cup out, and Tikki took it from him to the fireplace mantle.

"Now that I'm revealed," Bridgette said, "you must have questions about who I am."

Felix shook his head.

"Nothing? You've begged to know who I am! How could you possibly not want to know _anything_ about the girl behind the mask?"

He shrugged.

"Come on! I'm actually, genuinely offering, Kitty. What about you? You can reveal now if you want. Can't do any more damage, right?"

"No! Leave it alone, Miss-" He cut himself off just short of her name. With a deep breath, he kept himself from getting up and pacing the room as he wanted.

Bridgette eyed him for a moment, then settled against his chest again.

"Grumpy Kitty."

He wanted to point out that she usually liked the grumpy side of him, but the idea of revealing to Ladybug that he was Felix, her crush, was many levels of terrifying.

"How are you feeling?" Chat asked when he noticed her mug was empty.

"Wiped out, but ready to make a plan, if you are."

"I can't get a signal." He held up his baton, flipping the screen open. "I haven't seen a phone line anywhere. I don't know where we are, or whose cabin we've taken over."

"Okay. Maybe after Tikki can transform me again, I can use Lucky Charm?"

"Tikki?" Chat called, "Are you capable of making a wifi hotspot or possibly a teleportation device?"

Tikki shrugged and took another sip of her drink. "Sure, why not?"

"Worth a try, then."

Bridgette had started dozing off when there was a knock at the door.

"Did this just go from chick flick/romantic comedy to slasher movie?" Bridgette whispered.

"Stay here," Chat whispered, slipping out from under the blankets. He was halfway to the door when there was another knock and a familiar voice.

"Let me in! It's too cold!"

Chat wrenched the door open. "Master Fu?"

"I'm too old for temperatures like this," he said, hurrying to stand in front of the fire. Bridgette and Chat exchanged a look.

"What are you- _how_ are you here?" Bridgette asked.

"I'm the Guardian. I watched you two disappear on the news. Who else was going to come to get you?"

/*****/

The ride back to Paris was quiet and awkward. The heat was cranked up and the air felt heavy and as oppressive as the silence.

"Did you two decide that Chat Noir should not reveal his identity?" Master Fu asked after a while, rousing the teens from near-sleep.

"I said he could," Bridgette said. "I don't know why he won't."

"None of your business," Chat snapped. Bridgette turned around from the front seat to squint at him, and for a moment he wasn't sure if she was just annoyed with him, or if she was suspicious of his identity after that Felix-like outburst. But then she rolled her eyes and faced front again.

"Well, good luck with this akuma victim," Master Fu said, pulling over to the curb near the center of the city. "Please try not to get teleported again."

Bridgette transformed, and Chat Noir visibly relaxed.

"Wow," Ladybug said over her shoulder, running towards the screaming. "You really don't like civilian me, do you?"

Before Chat could defend himself, they were thrown into the fight. It went better on this attempt, and soon the city was safe again. They fist-bumped and went their separate ways. Felix collapsed on his bed and decided that the best thing to do was sleep and deal with everything he was feeling in the morning.

Of course, his mind and body had other plans. He lay awake, listening to Plagg quietly serenade his cheese while his mind whirled.

Bridgette was Ladybug. That meant the girl he had once climbed on top of a library shelf to hide from was the love of his life.

Ladybug was Bridgette. That meant the girl who had taught him the meaning of true love had his schedule memorized and liked to show up at his photoshoots and ballet practices without warning.

Bridgette had watched him fall off buildings and trip over her yo-yo and hit himself in the face with his baton and stumble about like a buffoon.

Ladybug had watched him reduce three teachers to tears with nothing but his words this school year.

Ladybug was annoying.

He was in love with Bridgette.

"Plagg? Claws out!"

He knew where she lived, and because of that, he avoided that neighborhood, so he had to hunt for a good path as he went, whereas most of Paris he knew like the back of his hand. Even this small delay in seeing her again annoyed him. There was a little light coming from her window. He landed on her balcony and knocked on the door.

"Chat?" Bridgette opened the door and yanked him in, shutting the door on the cold December night. She was wearing fluffy pink pajama bottoms and a Chat Noir hoodie that was a few sizes too big for her. "What are you doing here? How do you know where I live? Is this what revealing identities means? All-hours visits from our superhero partners at home?"

"You're a pest."

She blinked at him. "Is that a Ladybug joke, or...?"

He ignored her and started pacing. "You're annoying and aggressive and obsessive. You're stubborn and scarily good at finding things out about people. You're terrible at following people discreetly, though, so I don't know how you do it." He turned to face her. "You're _annoying_ , Bridgette Cheng."

"You're a smarmy ass," she retaliated, getting right in his face, reaching up to shove at his chest with both hands. He barely felt it. She was tiny. "You're literally incapable of taking things seriously when you need to, but can drop into a week-long mope at a moment's notice. You're way too sensitive to criticism and rejection. You're impulsive. And a giant nerd who knows what _hemisphere_ we're in by the _stars_. You flirt specifically to annoy me sometimes- and yes, I can tell the difference. And don't talk to me about following people and obsession, because you found out where I live within hours of finding out my identity. So I'm sorry the girl behind the mask doesn't live up to the fantasy in your head. But you're as much of a flawed bastard as I am, Chat Noir."

He waited to make sure she was done yelling, and nodded, reaching to take her hands in his, a loose hold that she could have broken out of if she'd wanted to.

"Good. Good, remember all of that. Remember the flawed bastard when the mask comes off, okay?"

He was going to reveal? Her eyes widened. Which was unfortunate, because his detransformation came with a flash of light. She closed her eyes and jerked her head back, but gripped his hands harder, feeling skin where the suit had been.

"Chat! Warn a girl!"

He snickered, tugging on her fingers until she opened her eyes. When she did, she saw a blurry male shape and the afterimage of his detransformation. As her vision returned, she smiled.

"You lied to me, you asshole," she said, tugging her hands free and shoving at his chest again. He stumbled back a half step. "'No, Bridgette, I don't know who you are, we've never met.' Ugh! And you were you, this whole time!"

He reached to cup her face, and her arms went around his waist, an automatic reaction.

“I can’t mind that you’re Bridgette,” he said, “because I’m Chat Noir. I can’t mind that you like Felix, because I like Ladybug.”

“We’ll figure it out,” she said, going up on her tiptoes as he leaned down to rest his forehead against hers. “We always do.”

He kissed her. He kissed her as he had wanted to kiss Ladybug since their first battle together- as equals, with no secrets between them.

She kissed him back. She kissed him as she had wanted to kiss Felix since their first class together- with all the extra love she had to give meeting all the love he craved and rarely got.

“I love you, Bridgette Cheng,” he whispered into the space between their lips.

“I love you, Chat Noir.”

He picked her up and carried her to her bed, sitting down with her on his lap to kiss her again and again. She pushed him back until they were lying side by side, lazy kisses interrupted by their giddy giggles for a long time.

Eventually, Bridgette couldn’t ignore how often Felix broke away to yawn.

“You should get home, Kitty.” She didn’t loosen her grip on him.

“I don’t want to,” he said, nuzzling into the crook of her neck. “You almost died today. I know, logically, that nothing will probably happen if I leave, but… You were so cold and still.” His fingers found her wrist and pulled it between them, kissing her palm. “Just let me feel your pulse a little longer, then I’ll go. Let me be sure you’re okay.”

“I felt one hundred percent better after the Miraculous Cure,” she said, but she let him kiss her hand and hold his fingers to her wrist.

“I know,” he said. “Just a minute longer.”

Bridgette scanned his face as he closed his eyes and felt her pulse. There was a tension there that she didn’t like.

“Hold on,” she said, pulling her hand away and leaning in to kiss him. He watched her get up and hunt down her phone. She returned and sat next to him, doing something on the screen. “What time do you have to get home in the morning before your father or Nathalie notice you’re gone?”

He looked up at her with an unreadable expression in his eyes. “I can stay?”

“Just this once. I’m not in the habit of keeping strays.”

They set her alarm with enough time for Felix to return in the morning and settled under the covers with the light off.

“Is this okay?” Bridgette asked, rolling over to have him spoon her.

“It’s perfect.” He kissed the back of her head and wrapped his arm around her middle, his hand against where her stomach moved as she breathed.

“Here.” She slid his hand a little higher, against her rib cage and the bottom of her breast. She felt him relax the moment he felt her heartbeat again.

“You’re okay,” he whispered.

“I’m okay.”

They fell asleep cuddling for the second time that day. This time they were warm and safe, and whole.

**Author's Note:**

> Talk with me over at [cheeseeatingtrashmonster.tumblr.com](https://cheeseeatingtrashmonster.tumblr.com/) if you like :)


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